by Christopher Hodapp
The 10,000- to 11,500-year-old site of Göbekli Tepe in Turkey is the oldest place of worship on Earth ever discovered, predating the building of the first Egyptian pyramids by 6,500 years. New discoveries are emerging from the ancient site about the primitive hunter/gatherers here who developed a rudimentary understanding of geometry to create the first temples. At least fifty 15-foot-tall monolithic pillars rise out of the ground, covered with intricate carvings of animals like jaguars and reptiles, symbols of death like vultures, and wild game like the the wild boar that still roam these hills in southeastern Turkey even today.
Archeologists believe this to be a site of worship and not a residential settlement, because no evidence of residential buildings or fortifications other than the T-shaped pillars have been discovered. That said, the massive site of Göbekli Tepe, near the modern-day town of Şanlıurfa, has only been five percent excavated, so new discoveries are always possible.
Each monolith is set within one of at least twenty concentric rings, each of which is built inside the other, with diameters ranging from 30-100 feet and weighing as much as 20 tons.
According to a new article on the Haaretz website, a discovery by Israeli archaeologists suggests the Göbekli Tepe temple complex was even more complicated than previously thought, and required an amount of planning and resources thought to be impossible for those times. A new study of the three oldest stone enclosures by archaeologists Gil Haklay and Avi Gopher of Tel Aviv University has revealed a distinct equilateral triangle that formed the overall architectural plan of these structures.
The coup attempt in Turkey and the subsequent crackdown (which has included the shuttering of newspaper and television operations, arrests of employees, and the blocking of some Western websites) has unleashed much misinformation. Given the nature of earlier warnings I received yesterday from European Masons, coupled with ongoing mainstream news coming out of Turkey, AND combined with the ongoing propaganda war between the Erdogan versus Gulen supporters and detractors both inside and outside of that country, it has been difficult to correctly ascertain what can be believed concerning the current situation with Freemasonry in Turkey.
This morning, I have been in contact with a Mason in Turkey who is well placed and experienced (in a manner that we can accept as trustworthy), and communicates in English extremely well. There is no language barrier in our exchanges.
A few lodges in Turkey have voluntarily cancelled their August meetings, but the Grand Lodge of Turkey is still operating openly (one clue from yesterday is that their website is still up and running). According to him, there is no current government persecution or official hounding of Masons going on in the country. The Deputy Prime Minister's statement yesterday calling the Gulen-aligned FETO "masonic" is part of a common attempt by some conservative supporters to brand Gulen and his organization with something widely perceived to be "complex and secret," and is not meant to necessarily connect the fraternity itself with those who are suspected of fomenting the coup.
In the wake of any coup, the winners are always nervous about the losers, and they carry out their nervousness in varying degrees. But according to the Brother in Turkey, he sees no danger at this time for Turkish Freemasons from the government. However, the brethren there are keeping a low profile until the post-coup hysteria calms down. That is completely understandable. The military is still actively scouring the countryside for coup sympathizers, and no one wants to get caught in that crossfire.
Because the first warnings that were sent to me were so alarming, and due to the nature of them saying to not mention the Craft in any way to Masons in Turkey, I was in a difficult position yesterday of not being able to verify anything until I was contacted by Turkish Masons - which could only happen if I posted the story in the first place. I thought long and hard before hitting the "post" button.
So, I extend my deepest apologies to everyone who read my story from yesterday for spreading false information. It is never my intention to do so at any time, and the fault lies entirely with me. It has concerned Masons inside of Turkey and all over the world, and I urge everyone who reads this message to PLEASE circulate it as widely today as you may have done with the previous story so that the correct information is received by all.
This blog is read by between 10,000 and 20,000 Masons every day, and I take my responsibility to the entire fraternity very seriously. I do not violate trusts, but I also try not to spread false rumors, either. I don't engage in click-bait stories. I was not trying to "get a scoop" yesterday - or any day - but was attempting to give due and timely notice as we are all obligated to do. I beg everyone's forgiveness for erring.
In the aftermath of the failed military coup against Turkey's president Recap Tayyip Erdoğan in July, pressure by his government has been stepped up to compel the United States to deport his political enemy Fethullah Gülen, who is currently living in self-exile in Saylorsburg, Pennsylvania. Gulen's influential organization has millions of followers in Turkey, and Erdoğan's government has used Gulen as his favorite public scapegoat whenever anything in the country has gone wrong since they parted ways politically in 2014. The government has branded Gulen's followers as the "Fethullahist Terror Organization" (FETO), and has been purging or imprisoning tens of thousands of Turkish citizens accused of sympathizing with the coup. Many, if not most, are accused of being FETO "Gulenists."
A story appeared yesterday on the English language Hurriet Daily News website, and it appears that Erdoğan's folks are trying out a new public line against their FETO foes - accusing them of being "Masonic."
The Fethullahist Terror Organization (FETÖ), which has been blamed for the failed coup attempt of July 15, has emerged as a “modern-day masonic organization,” Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmuş has said, defining the organization as a new religion.
“We know that these people regard only those who are inside their community as believers. Those people have only put their community forward by removing the idea of Muslim unity. Unfortunately, they have succeeded in removing Muslims from the unity of the mosque for years. These people have emerged as a modern-day masonic organization. They have become pharaohs,” Kurtulmuş said at the opening ceremony of the Extraordinary Religious Council in Ankara on Aug. 3, almost three weeks after a deadly coup attempt blamed on the group.
The deputy prime minister also defined the organization as a “new religion.”
“In this respect, they are actually a new religion. They have entered a phase of religious supremacy ontologically to put up a new religion by integrating God’s latest religion with another religion and completely adding great delusions to this issue. Moreover, one of the most significant problems of this organization is the fact that they do not accept other Muslims separate from themselves and regard them as the ‘other.’ They did not regard those people as individuals of Islamic law within their circles, even if they had 99 Muslim signs, if they were not from them,” Kurtulmuş said.
Back in 1975 when Erdogan was a callow youth in the Youth Commission of the National Salvation Party, he wrote and directed a play called "Mas-kom-yah" (Mason-Communist-Jew). And anti-Masonic articles appear occasionally in the press. Masons there today must keep a low profile.
Most regular, recognized grand lodges around the world are in amity with the Grand Lodge of Turkey, but Masonry in that nation has had a tumultuous history since its reputed beginnings in 1721. One notable violent event occurred back in 2004, when attackers with automatic weapons and explosives burst into a Masonic lodge in Istanbul, Turkey, sprayed it with bullets, and set off several bombs. One person was killed, along with one of the terrorists, and six people were injured. Ultimately, eighteen suspects were questioned, and ten were charged with the operation.
In March of 2015, a story appeared in the Turkish press purportedly producing aged, stained documents that alleged Gulen became a Mason in the early 1970s. According to the ridiculous claims in the article:
The secret documents also prove that Gülen communicated with the Moon Sect, MOSSAD and CIA via Knights Templar, as he was nurtured and prepared as a project.
Nonsense, but it plays well there.
The Grand Lodge of Turkey immediately denounced the documents as forgeries, but obviously the government's goal is to connect Gulen and Freemasonry, and by association, bring suspicion on the rest of the fraternity there.
H/T Istvan Horvath
UPDATE FRIDAY AUG. 5th:
I am receiving conflicting messages out of Europe and elsewhere about this situation, as you can probably imagine. Yesterday after posting the first part of this story, I was contacted by two Masons in Europe with a warning not to discuss Masonry with Turkish Masons. At that time, I felt it was of enough concern that it needed to be passed along.
Then today, I received a message from a Turkish Mason who said lodges were merely closed for the summer, and there are no problems for Masons in Turkey.
Given the nature of the earlier messages, coupled with ongoing mainstream news coming out of Turkey, AND combined with the ongoing propaganda war between the Erdogan versus Gulen supporters and detractors, it is difficult to ascertain what can be believed. The coup attempt and the subsequent crackdown (which has included the shuttering of newspaper and television operations, arrests of employees, and the blocking of some Western websites) has unleashed much misinformation.
I hope to update this with more definitive information actually from within Turkey as soon as possible. It is NOT my intention to spread false information, and will correct this story and post a new one with appropriate mea culpas if it turns out to have been false in any way.
PLEASE READ THIS POST - CLICK HERE
